Fireworm's Revenge
by ToothlessFuture
Summary: Sequel to the Deathwhisper Island. Toothless is having perfectly happy life, but when his past comes back haunting he'll find himself in a very dire situation.
1. Prologue

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**A/N: IMPORTANT: This is sequel to the _Deathwhisper Island_, so I highly recommend reading it first.  
Other important stuff: Unlike in the _DI_, dragons can talk with each other in this story. Originally I didn't want to do that but this would be really hard to pull out without that ability, so my apologies if you don't like that. (Dragonspeak is marked with _.::line::._)**

So yeah, this is the prologue to the story, a nice little piece of foreshadowing if I dare to say it myself :P, enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.

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Prologue

Snarling hisses filled the air and tried to make her lose her focus. Fireworm ignored the countless pairs of glittering eyes that were staring at her from the trees around the dark glade. They didn't matter to her right now; instead she turned her head around cautiously as she approached the other end of the clearing. She squinted her eyes and tried to locate the thing that she was determined to take care of; everything depended on it. Monstrous Nightmares were not really night-active dragons so Fireworm had hard time trying to make out details from the trees that surrounded her. Nevertheless she knew that her opponent was somewhere there and she wasn't going to let it attack first, even though it had the advantage of blending in the midnight-dark trees…

Fireworm closed her eyes and focused in listening. The leaves were rustling faintly in the wind everywhere around her. "The audience", as she called them, were whispering in excitement behind her. A stick cracked some distance to her left. _Got you!_ Fireworm turned to the direction of the sound as fast as lightning, but a ring of fire was already flying towards her. She quickly folded her wings and leaped trough the ring like it had been just a simple trick for her. Angry hisses came from the large tree in front of her. The whole tree was moving, deforming like it was alive. She could catch a glimpse of lime-green scales here and there. Long figure arched over the tree, barely distinguishable against the pitch-black, clouded sky. Two bright orange diamonds were glowing at the end of the serpent body. The Elder.

_.::You, a pathetic Nightmare, dare to face me? I'll feed your body to my followers… after I have shred it to pieces!::. _The elder hissed furiously, and Fireworm saw two large wings spreading out against the dark background.

Two years, two years of hard work and painful waiting had brought her to this. This was the final obstacle that she had to overcome to be ready for her revenge. Fireworm let her gas build up in her throat and then let the bright, devastating flames out. The large tree that was housing the Elder caught fire immediately and the whole tree was burning in seconds. The Elder let out a horrible screech and begun to uncoil its extreme long body from the tree branches. _Oh, no you won't!_ With few strong wingbeats Fireworm tackled the upper body of the Elder and sank her teeth in its flesh. They both hit the ground, tangled up in each other. The Elder tried to do three things at the same time: free its other half from the burning tree, bind Fireworm and make her loosen her grip, while Fireworm just tried to bite the long, struggling mass of muscles in two pieces. She growled when her wing was bent in odd position by the Elder, and answered by biting even harder, so that he could feel her opponent's spine against her teeth.

From the corner of her eye Fireworm saw that the rather large head with respectable teeth and fire-like eyes was approaching her neck a bit too fast. She immediately gave up her biting attempt and dodged as well as she could while being tangled in the serpent body of the Elder. Seven rows of razor-sharp teeth sunk in the ground next to her. Before it had time to pull its head back, Fireworm had already taken the advantage of the situation and launched an attack against its weakly protected neck. It howled and tried to retreat its head but it was already too late. Warm blood streamed on Fireworm and on ground from the lethal wound. Whole ground was shaking a bit when the heavy body hit the ground. It didn't rise up again.

Fireworm tilted her bloody head upwards and roared her victory to the air. The audience went dead silent first, then they started whispering nervously. She enjoyed the feeling of blood dripping from her jaws for a moment, and then she turned towards the crowd.

_.::What are you looking at, go back to your nests! NOW!::._, Fireworm snarled.

The sound of rustling leaves and breaking branches filled the air for a moment when all the dragons rushed away. Then it was silent. She turned to look at the sky again. Soon she could make out three shapes flying towards the clearing where the dead Elder was lying. She took a few steps backwards to allow the heavy figures to land.

_.::The dinner is served, enjoy!::.,_ she grinned devilishly. In the light provided by the burning tree she admired the brilliant cyan scales of the three. All the preparations were now done.

_The time is drawing near. Soon I will get my revenge!_

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**Here was my part, now it's your turn to review :D I'll still appreciate reviews to the original story, too, so feel free to review it if you haven't already done so.******

First chapter will be up either tomorrow or next weekend, depending on many factors, but I'm hoping to get it done for tomorrow.


	2. Shadow

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**A/N: First chapter is up, sorry that I'm bad at making up names, but otherwise enjoy :P**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own HTTYD.

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Chapter 1: Shadow

_This is where we belong_, Toothless thought when he soared trough the clouds with Hiccup. The sun was still rising, and the weather was great. It was early summer, the time of the year when Berk was at its best. Toothless circled in the warm air currents to gain slowly more altitude. His flying muscles were still pretty sore from his yesterday impact with a tree, and he wanted to avoid unnecessary work right now. Flying wasn't so easy anymore with limited vision and such incidents like colliding with tree were pretty common to him now. Still, Toothless didn't complain; things could have been so much worse.

"Okay bud, let's head to the ring, the students are waiting", Hiccup said. A clicking sound followed, gears shifted, and they were heading towards the training ring. Formerly it was known as the kill ring, but now when it wasn't used for combat training anymore, it was just know as the training ring. Nowadays young Vikings were trained there to live with dragons: information about the different species; what they eat, how they behave in certain conditions, what you should avoid doing at their presence etc, not to forget the basic things like firepower and jaw strengths. The teacher was no one else than the famous Dragon Master, meaning Hiccup, and Fishlegs and Gobber were assisting him in the task. The purpose of the new dragon training was to get the young to form a bond with a dragon, which was not always an easy task. Usually it was the dragon's decision that weighted more in the end. There was already one boy in the class that was starting today who had bonded with a dragon, and Toothless couldn't have been more happy or proud about it.

From the heights Toothless located the ring. They were now circling straight above it. Toothless could make out small dots that were little humans at the edges of the ring. The roof of the cage had been removed to allow dragons take off and land – or perform tricks like they were just about to do.

"I hope Gobber has managed to get the new students in their places… alright, let's give them our special entrance, shall we?"

Toothless grinned mischievously before pulling his wings so close to his body as possible without folding them. A faint click indicated that the artificial tail-fin had been adjusted, and then he was diving at full speed towards the ring. Air was rushing against his face at great speed and Toothless concentrated in keeping the ring straight under his nose. Dives were definitely the hardest thing to do for him nowadays, especially dives like this when he had to be accurate, very accurate. The eerie noise of diving Night Fury filled the air as the ground was getting closer. _And now the hardest part…_ Toothless aimed carefully before letting the blue blast out. It exploded exactly in the middle of the ring, raising a massive cloud of dust in the air. He spread his wings, and air immediately caught them and critically slowed down the fall. He landed gracefully like a cat in the middle of the dust.

When the dust had almost cleared, Hiccup jumped down from the saddle. Toothless observed the children who were standing at the edge of the arena, with Gobber looking after them. All of the children had impressed, even frightened expressions on their faces, all but one. The boy, around the age of twelve, had dark hair and brown eyes. He wasn't really skinny, but was still shortest and thinnest of the new students. Excitement shined from his face. _He reminds Hiccup a little, maybe that's why Shadow chose him_, Toothless thought, amused.

"Children, here is your teacher, the Dragon Master of Berk, and Toothless the Night Fury, his companion", Gobber presented the couple to the students.

Hiccup stepped forward, a little embarrassed like he always was when he was getting praised. "Just call me Hiccup, it will do fine."

"Alright Hiccup, they need me back at the forge, I trust you can handle this alone." Gobber was about to leave, but then he turned towards the children with a smirk on his face. "Be careful that Toothless doesn't eat you, he doesn't like misbehavior during the lessons." Then he left.

Some of the kids turned pale and Toothless had really hard time stopping himself from laughing at the sight of Hiccup trying to calm them down. But hey, who wouldn't be scared of a battle-scarred, pitch-black Night Fury?

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"…When each of you have selected a dragon that accepts you, we can proceed with a personal training. But before that, you have a lot of homework to do; the lesson has ended."

The students left the ring, talking with each other about dragons and which one was their favorite. Only one, familiar boy didn't leave. He walked to Hiccup, looking pretty nervous.

"Yes, Acorn?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow, but Toothless already guessed what the boy was going to say.

"I was just wondering that, well, I kinda have – have a dragon already, I mean if you don't mind…" the boy stammered.

"Oh, this is about Shadow, isn't it? You should really ask Toothless, but I don't have anything against it. If he allows, you can start the personal training tomorrow."

"Thanks a lot, Dragon Master – I mean Hiccup!" Acorn hugged Hiccup quickly, and then turned to Toothless. "Mr. Night Fury, I'd like to ask if I could – err, become the rider of your son?"

Toothless had seen the boy playing with Shadow ever since he had hatched, and they really liked each other, so how could he refuse? Toothless forced a menacing look on his face, and when the boy looked worried enough he grinned and nodded. Acorn was looking confused at first, and then a wide smile spread on his face.

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**Evening:**

_.::Shadow, come here!::._ Toothless called his son. Soon a black figure appeared behind the corner of the house. His wings and scales were the perfect shade of darkest black and eyes were yellow-lime colored. He was about the half of the size of Toothless, and was growing stronger every day. _.::Have you fought with the Terrors again?::._

Shadow moved his eyes from corner to corner quickly and looked at his claws. _.::Eh, why you think I'd have done such a thing, dad?::._

_.::You got green scales on your back::._, Toothless noted.

_.::Oh, ehehe…::._ Shadow looked embarrassed.

Toothless walked next to him and licked the scales off. _.::Just promise you won't do it again, go fight the young Nightmares next time.::._

_.::Sorry dad, I promise::._, Shadow guaranteed. He hopped on Toothless' back playfully and they wrestled for a moment. _.::So, dad, how it went at the ring? Did he – can we…?::._

Toothless laughed; Shadow had exactly same expression than the boy had had when he had asked the permission from him. _.::Yes, you will start at the morning.::._

_.::Cool, dad, I can't wait until tomorrow!::._ Shadow bounced around in excitement.

_.::Don't worry, it's easy: you go sleep now.::._

_.::But dad…!::._

_.::No buts, you need to rest for tomorrow, so you go to bed, now.::._

Shadow walked inside, dragging his wings behind him in protest. Toothless couldn't help but smile to himself; Shadow was just like he had been when he was young.

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**Next weekend, next chapter. Surprise me with lots of reviews, would you :)**


	3. Lesson

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**A/N: Second one done, I noticed I really have troubles if there's no action or drama in the chapter... I'm quite satisfied with this one nevertheless.**

Thanks to Victoria62015 and "just me" for reviews, I believe that this chapter gives answers to your questions.

DISCLAIMER: Simple fact: HTTYD is not mine.

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Chapter 2: Lesson

Everything was prepared and ready, and all she could do now was to wait. Fireworm walked in circles in her chamber; after two years of waiting she could hardly bear it any longer. The memories of flying with her human, or fishing, or overall doing anything with him made her heart burn in pain. She really didn't have a heart anymore, only ashes… the damned Night Fury had no idea what his lack of strength had forced her to go through.

_But soon he will know._ Fireworm chuckled for a moment, until her impatience caught the upper hand again.

_.::Crystalspike! What is taking so long for your brother to come back!::._ Fireworm roared so that the whole cave echoed from her voice.

A white-bluish figure, slightly larger than she was, emerged from the rocky, frozen cave wall. It, or more appropriately, she, crouched briefly in front of Fireworm. _.::Your mercifulness, my brother needs time for his task, but I'm sure he won't disappoint you::._, the creature answered swiftly in a low tone.

_.::Better not::._, Fireworm growled, her frustration leaking over the bounds now. Monstrous Nightmares were not created patience in mind. _.::Get Doomgrip and your sister here, I need to make sure they understood their instructions.::._ The dragon nodded firmly and dashed off. _Prepare yourself, _Toothless_, soon you will pay for your treachery, and it will cost you dearly._

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"Welcome to personal dragon training", Hiccup said as he opened the gates of the Arena for Acorn and Shadow. He flashed a smile at the couple and gestured towards the Arena. "Go ahead; I have lots of things to talk about."

Shadow walked in right behind the boy. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next but it had to be something exciting. Before he noticed, he was bouncing around the arena, sniffing stuff and causing stuff to break, by accident of course.

"Shadow. Shadow! Come on, take it easy", Acorn shouted desperately with amusement mixed in his voice. So much for making a good impression to Hiccup with his dragon-control skills. Shadow stopped on his tracks when he realized that he was embarrassing his human. He let his ears fall against his neck to show his regret and walked slowly to the boy.

"Alright, let's get started. You can sit down, this is gonna take a while." Shadow curled himself in a half-circle around Acorn, who leaned his back against Shadow's side and smiled. Then they both turned their attention to Hiccup.

"Okay, so you are now starting your personal dragon training. The difference to normal training is that while in the normal training you learn basic things about dragons, how different species look and behave, how to approach a wild dragon etc, here you learn how to trust your dragon and how to work as a team. Yeah, that means flying", Hiccup added when he saw the question forming on Acorn's face.

"But first things first. As a rider you should know few things: First, a dragon is not a horse, nor are you a master. Never forget that, or your dragon _will_ make you remember."

"Don't worry, I won't forget that", Acorn assured after giving a quick glance at Shadow.

"Good", Hiccup sneered. "Second, you should know your dragon, not only as a representative of its breed but as an individual. But I have seen you playing with Shadow so many times that I believe you know him better than anyone in Berk besides Toothless, so that shouldn't be a problem."

Acorn raised his hand: "Dragon Mas…-Hiccup, I have a question."

"Go ahead", Hiccup said, delighted.

"I have never seen Shadow's mother, what happened to her? How she looked like? Why-"

"Whoa, one question at time, please." Hiccup cleared his thoughts for a moment. "That was a good question. I have to admit that I didn't see her many times, but from what I remember, she was sleek and agile, her scales were black with some dark gray strains here and there. Her eyes were lemon-yellow and she was a good meter longer than Toothless." After taking a short break Hiccup continued: "What comes to why she isn't here, well… you should understand that dragon families work differently to human families. Night Furies seems to prefer single parenting, the female leaving after laying the eggs. Then it's the male's responsibility to look after the hatchlings. Or at least that is how it went with Toothless. When the lady Fury appeared, Toothless disappeared in woods with her for few weeks. Then he came back, carrying an egg in his mouth. I never saw the other Night Fury again."

"I think I understand, but doesn't Shadow miss his mother?" Acorn asked. Shadow looked at him, looking a bit surprised. _Why I'd need a mother when I have such a great dad?_ He thought.

His dad's human talked and talked, and just when Shadow thought that he had finished, he talked some more. Acorn looked interested and concentrated, but Shadow couldn't understand most of the words so it was all meaningless babbling to him. That meant he was getting tired, and the comfortable position in which he was lying and the boy's gentle hand that was rubbing his chin didn't help at all. Just when he was going to close his eyes something glittering caught his attention. It was just a reflection of something blue at the edge of the upper level balcony, but it vanished before Shadow was able to get a better look at it. He shrugged and let his head fall back on his forepaws.

After a time that felt like eternity the half-legged human finally stopped talking. Shadow opened his eyes slightly and yawned. He didn't expect the training to be like this, he had gained nothing from the hours Hiccup had used to explain some things. _At least I was able to take a nap_.

"Alright, this should do for now, you should go home to eat something now. Come to meet me at the forge afternoon, and we'll make a saddle for Shadow." Shadow immediately jerked his head up and stared at Hiccup, and so did Acorn with the exception that he jumped up instead of just raising his head. Hiccup almost laughed out loud at the sight of the surprised couple.

"Do you mean that we could _fly_ this week?" Acorn asked with a disbelief in his voice. Shadow made the same question with his eyes.

"Yeah, I think it's good to start practicing early, just don't expect too much at the beginning, it's gonna be hard for both of you."

"Thanks a lot! I can hardly wait until afternoon!" Acorn jumped in joy. Shadow ducked his head under the boy so that he fell on his back, then he started running around the arena, carrying Acorn on his back. "See you soon!" Acorn waved at Hiccup when Shadow leaped out of the arena.

Shadow was so happy that he didn't notice the cold, blue eyes that were staring at him from the woods.

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Huh, soon there will be something else that just dialogue, which mean faster writing for me :D Go ahead and leave your opinion in the form of review:)


	4. Flight

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**A/N: Story continues again, with the third chapter. Time for some review replying:**

Toothless-the-nightfury: Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind. And actually, Acorn isn't Hiccup's son; there's only two years between the events of DI and this. He's just a villager who had spent a lot of time with Shadow ;)  
just me: I won't say anything about the Frostbites for now, but there will definately be some stuff in later chapters. Yeah, I know scenes with just dialogue work, it's just that I'm so freaking slow at writing somewhat believable dialogue :P  
Victoria62015: Thanks :D

DISCLAIMER: HTTYD isn't mine.

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Chapter 3: Flight

Shadow winced when Acorn tightened the straps that were holding the saddle in its place. It felt uncomfortable, but he'd have to bear with it if he wanted to fly with Acorn. And he really wanted to.

"Okay, now jump in the saddle and fasten the safety harness to the saddle", Hiccup instructed to Acorn.

The boy did so quickly and patted Shadow on head. "Feeling nervous bud? Yeah me too, this is gonna be amazing!" Shadow huffed and looked down to the sea. He had learned to fly months ago but now suddenly he felt really nervous about jumping in air from the cliff.

_.::Relax and everything will be fine, you get used to the extra weight soon. We'll catch you if something goes wrong::._, Toothless reassured him.

"Remember the instructions and all will go fine", Hiccup calmed Acorn while he climbed on Toothless' saddle. "Stay low and don't move too much so Shadow won't be thrown off balance."

"I will…" Acorn's somewhat worried expression changed into determination. "Alright, Shadow, let's go." After a moment of hesitation Shadow launched himself in the air and beat hard with his wings. For a second it looked like he was going to fall, but then his wings caught air under them  
and he gained some altitude.

Shadow and Acorn soared to the sky, climbing higher every moment. Shadow roared in joy and changed into gliding. Acorn was just enjoying the breathtaking view of Berk and sea at summer morning. Sun was halfway at its climb to the sky and there were only few clouds around.

"This is fantastic!" Acorn shouted and waved his hands in air. That caused him to nearly fall so he quickly grabbed at the saddle again. "Oops, ehehee, gotta be more careful."

"Acorn, how you're doing?" Hiccup asked when Toothless flied next to Shadow.

"I absolutely love this!" the boy smiled. He looked around and noticed that a thick fog was rising from the sea some distance to their right. "Look Shadow, let's try how it feels to fly there!" Acorn whispered to Shadow's ear. The dragon grinned and pulled his wings for a dive.

"Wait, you may hit in something there!" Hiccup yelled, but they were already speeding down and couldn't hear him. "Oh come on… Toothless, we have to go and get them out from there. Toothless grunted and dived after them. It was not easy to keep eyes open when going down faster than freefall speed, but Hiccup managed to see Shadow and Acorn disappearing in the fog.

Hiccup moaned when his clothes got wet from the fog. "Acorn! Where are you!" No answer and visibility was really bad. "Toothless, can you track them by smell?" Toothless snorted. Yes, he did smell them, but he also smelled something else, something oddly familiar. He couldn't put his claw to what exactly was the source of the scent but it reminded him of coldness and death, and Toothless didn't like that at all.

_.::Shadow! Shadow! We have to go back to Berk now! Where ar-::._, his words were interrupted when he had to dodge a rock formation that suddenly appeared in front of him from the cover of the fog. _.::Shadow, where are you!::._

"Toothless, we need to rise above the fog, there's no way we can find them like this."

He agreed and beat his wings harder to gain some height. Just when they got out of the fog a loud shriek filled the air. High in the sky were two figures struggling with each other, other was rather large and sky-colored while other was small and pitch-black. _.::Shadow!::._ Toothless forced his wings to beat harder to gain altitude faster. When they were only about hundred meters below the dragons a third figure split from Shadow and fell.

"Acorn! Toothless, we must catch him!" Toothless roared and dived after the falling boy. It was a race against time, but they were winning. He reached out with his front paws and grabbed Acorn from his riding vest. Right after that he spread his wings and turned the dive into glide. Toothless looked up only to see that the hostile dragon was already flying away, and apparently was holding Shadow in its claws. Toothless barked his challenge and headed after the dragon. However, it had a considerable advance and was flying quite fast. Also Toothless' wing was still aching from the earlier collision with tree and he couldn't fly at full speed.

Hiccup bent down and tried to grab Acorn's hand. "Toothless, help me to get him in the saddle." The Night Fury grunted and slowed down a bit so his rider was able to get a hold of Acorn and pull him up to the saddle. The boy sat down behind Hiccup. "What happened?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know, we entered in the fog and suddenly something large attacked us. It dragged us high in the air and then I fell", Acorn tried to explain. He was looking shocked.

"Could you describe the attacking dragon? If I can identify the species then I might know where it's heading."

"I can try…" Acorn muttered. He was shaking a bit. "Well, it was big and sky blue. I think it had spiked tail and no front legs."

Hiccup went silent. When he didn't speak for a while, Acorn asked: "Do you know what it was? Or where it's heading? Will Shadow be alright?"

"Yes, don't worry, Toothless will save him for sure. You should take as comfortable position as you can, this will be long journey if we can't catch the dragon before it's at the destination." Hiccup huffed. Then he whispered to Toothless' ear: "Bud, we're heading to Deathwhisper Island."

Toothless growled; he had no will to go back there after what happened last time. But for Shadow, he would even fight the Red Death again. He slowed down a bit again, the other dragon was already disappearing behind horizon, and Toothless would need all his strength at the island. Wasting too much energy in the journey was not good idea. For now he could only hope that the Frostbite wouldn't kill Shadow before he makes it there.

The simple task of beating wings soon made him to fall in a half-sleep.

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That's it for now, there will be a two-week break until next chapter, unfortunately. At least I have time to plan the chapters carefully. But yeah, keep the reviews coming :)


	5. Doubts

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******A/N: This is going to be a little more complex story than the previous was, so I'm introducing some (more) new characters. Yeah, and now the all Frostbites have names :D Also to avoid possible confusion; the lines mean POV change.**

Thanks to my reviewers, here's some answers to your questions:  
Just me:""just me: I won't say anything about the Frostbites for now," Didn't you just do that (it's one of them who took Shadow, right?) ;)" Haha, I meant that won't write from their POV, until now ;)  
Also I'd love to write a chapter every day or two but I'm unable to do so for a good while, so I'll update as often as I can, which is almost every weekend.**  
Toothless-the-nightfury: "And I know I'm repeating myself, but please don't kill shadow or acorn!" I'll take that in consideration... just teasing you... or am I? :P**

DISCLAIMER: Mine is HTTYD not.

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Chapter 4: Doubts

Doomgrip tasted the air with his forked tongue. It tasted salty and had some suspense in it. A storm was gathering. A storm, yes, but it had nothing to do with the weather. He hissed in frustration; his whole life had been messed by the fire-red Monstrous Nightmare. Doomgrip was a mighty dragon; a Whispering Death. His breed was the stealthy master-hunters of the forest, and they were not supposed to be ruled by arrogant, selfish, _mad_ Monstrous Nightmare, who didn't care about the flock. If it only hadn't found a way to abuse their ancient traditions…

He tilted his head and watched at the horizon. Clouds above the sea were colored red by the day's first rays of light. Another day of shame. Doomgrip couldn't imagine greater shame than being forced to cooperate with the unholy, filthy ice-breathers. It was unforgivable, totally unforgivable that their ruler was supporting three of those beasts, those who killed their hatchlings in their nests and chased down the adults like rabbits. The Frostbites had been a plague to his kind for decades, and when there was finally hope that it had ended, the Nightmare appeared and _adopted_ the beasts.

Shaking his head violently, Doomgrip cursed the whole situation. He had to do something, but he was too weak. Sure, there was no other Whispering Death that had as sharp teeth or as venomous poison than he had, but it was just not enough. Without the help of the flock he didn't stand a chance to overthrow the Nightmare or kill the beasts. But, they were too scared, too terrified of getting eaten to resist the commands, to fight against the traditions. Traditions were almost holy thing to Whispering Deaths, and the traditions ordered that only one dragon was allowed to challenge the leader at a time. But now… breaking the traditions was their only chance, if he only could convince the others… otherwise they'd be all eaten, one-by-one. Several Deaths had gone missing recently and Doomgrip was sure that the Nightmare secretly allowed the beast to eat his kind.

Anger filled him, anger towards the ice-beast, anger towards their so-called leader, and anger towards his own inability to solve the situation. Leader of the flock was supposed to act for the common good – even if it would cost his life. Flock always goes first; a good leader would know that. But no, the Nightmare only cared of her revenge to some Night Fury… such a private matter shouldn't belong to the whole flock. She had commanded them to help her, and he obeyed, for now. However, when the opportunity shows itself, he would do everything in his power to free the flock from the red curse that was the Monstrous Nightmare.

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_Why mother wants to kill that Night Fury so… complexly?_ Chillbreath wondered. He was sure that it would have been easy for him to kill the black dragon if Flamesoul had asked, but no, instead he had to drag this hatchling from the other side of the sea. Why, was the question on top of his mind.

He shrugged and enjoyed the view that opened below him: his home island was surely beautiful sight at dawn. He was feeling really hungry after the long flight, and he had to use all his willpower to resist the urge to bite a piece out of the flaccid lump of meat that he was carrying in his claws.

Chillbreath saw that one Whispering Death was waiting for his arrival at the edge of the shore cliff, just like his mother had commanded. It was amusing how carefully they followed every command, whether they liked it or not.

He dropped the unconscious Night Fury on the cliff and then landed next to the Death. Chillbreath could smell its fear and disgust. It looked at him with his yellow eyes like a prey looks at a predator; and that was how it should be. The Death flinched under his cold stare and turned its eyes to the black dragon. _.::I hope you didn't cause too severe damage to it?::._ It asked cautiously while eying the crimson stains on the black scales.

_.::And how does that matter to you… Doomgrip, was it?::._, Chillbreath said harshly. Doomgrip hissed and backed off slightly. _.::Anyways, it's alive, that's all you need to know. Now, if I were you, I'd be filling my duty already!::._, Chillbreath snarled. It was amazing how fast legless dragons could be when they had a reason to do so. In few seconds Doomgrip disappeared in the woods.

Soon his mother would get her revenge, and Chillbreath would be allowed to feast with the flesh of the pathetic worms. Only one question was disturbing his mind, a question that his mother, Flamesoul, had never answered fully: why she wanted to revenge so eagerly? _Why?_

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.::Doomgrip, I hope you have a good reason to disturb me?::., Fireworm asked with a silent, but very threatening voice. She was pretty annoyed by the fact that the Whispering Death had waked her up.

The serpent dragon bowed. _.::Your mercifulness, I have urgent news: Chillbreath has returned with the Night Fury hatchling!::._, Doomgrip reported with his hissing tone.

Fireworm felt her anger diminishing and felt a sudden burst of energy filling her veins. Rest of her plan was depending on so many different factors; she had to be quick and determined now. _.::Go and alert Crystalspike and Icescale immediately::._, she let the words to sink in the thick skull of the Whispering Death. _.::After that, take the flock to positions and wait for the right moment.::._

_.::As you wish::._, Doomgrip replied and hurried to fill his duty.

Fireworm waited until the Death had disappeared and then darted out of her cave and launched herself in the air.

In five minutes she reached the cliff where Doomgrip had been watching the skies earlier, and now there was a black figure lying on ground, with a massive creature that had glittering, sky blue and white scales, crystal-like spikes, hundreds of needles as teeth and eyes as cold and brilliant as diamond, guarding it.

_.::Mother, I have done as you requested::._, Chillbreath announced when Fireworm landed on the rocky cliff.

Fireworm walked around the little dragon and examined its condition before turning her attention to the young Ruthless Frostbite. _.::How you captured it? Is _he_ following you?::._, she asked rapidly.

_.::It was flying like a fool in a fog with a human boy on its back. I used it as my advantage and attacked. The boy fell in the process. The older Night Fury tried to follow me but couldn't keep at my pace; however he will be here in under a half of an hour.::._

_.::Alright, now, you should carry that sack out of sight before…::._ A wailing sound interrupted her sentence. Fireworm turned to watch the Night Fury as it was slowly regaining its consciousness. First its tail twitched, then the wings moved a bit and then it opened its lime-yellow eyes. It looked around, scared, before noticing Fireworm. _.::W-Where I am? Who are you?::._ The voice was shaking slightly.

_.::Who I am, eh? I am the Leader of the Deaths and Flamesoul, but I'm also known as… Fireworm.::._ She observed carefully the Fury's reaction to the name, but there was none. Just as she had expected; the coward hadn't even told about her to his son. Pathetic creature.

The eyes of the small dragon went round in fear when it noticed Chillbreath standing behind Fireworm. It barely managed to get on its feet to run away when Chillbreath was already pinning it on ground. _.::Scared, are you?::._, Chillbreath asked, chuckling, when the Night Fury struggled desperately to free itself. When it proved to be useless, it slowly turned its head and looked the Frostbite to eyes, trying to hide its fear. _.::Ah, but you should be::._, he said, dripping some saliva on its face.

Fireworm bent his head close to the Night Fury's. _.::Don't worry, I'm sure your father will come to rescue you::._, she said sweetly and then bursted to laugh like a maniac.

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So the preparations for arrival have been done. This is going to get interesting, even for me; there's so many ways I can handle this :)

Until next week... -TF


	6. Return

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**A/N: The chapter of the week have arrived :) Alright, let's see what I was going to say... yeah, I changed the way the Whispering Deaths speak, I think this suits them better :D**

DISCLAIMER: I'm repeating myself over and over, but anyways: I don't own HTTYD.

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Chapter 5: Return

Toothless sniffed the air deeply but he couldn't find the scent anymore. He had lost the trail. It was not a problem right now, as he knew where he was heading and was able to see the destination already, but the troubles would show up when he'd get there. Deathwhisper Island was quite a large island, almost three times the size of Berk, and Toothless wouldn't have time to search through the whole piece of land.

He felt helpless in front of his own inability to protect his son. He should have been closer, be more protective, not to lose him so easily. He shouldn't have let the clumsy dragon to outrun him; he was a Night Fury for heaven's sake, the fastest dragon in the world! But now… he might have lost him, lost Shadow forever, only because of his own inabilities.

As the rising sun was warming the air and his black scales, his passengers were waking up. Or at least Acorn was, Toothless wasn't sure if Hiccup had slept at all during the long, long night. It wasn't surprising, taking in account the situation he was in: his best friend's son had been brutally kidnapped, and at the same time that happened to be his most promising student's dragon, and even better, it happened during their first flight. Not to mention that everyone was probably worried of their disappearing at Berk, but most importantly, he had nothing good to remember from their last visit at the cursed island.

Acorn yawned and moved uncomfortably at the saddle. After a while he noticed the nearing landmass. "Is that it - Deathwhisper Island?" Acorn asked and tried to get a better look at the island that was bathing in the sunshine.

"Yes, yes it is…" Hiccup muttered. Toothless looked at him quickly just to confirm his guess: Hiccup had hard, painful expression on his face. It was two years from their trip at the Island… two years ago they had lost a good friend there… and now they were going back.

"So the dragon took Shadow there? The island looks huge, how can we find him? What if we won't make it, if Shadow is… if he is…"

"Shadow is fine, Toothless will find him, I can guarantee that", Hiccup soothed Acorn. "I… I have been at the island before, and I have faced Ruthless Frostbites there. Toothless took on two of them at the same time; he can easily save Shadow from just one Frostbite." Toothless had to remark that Hiccup didn't mention few important details of the fight; like that he got help and still got almost killed. But it didn't matter now, he was ready to tear trough _three_ Frostbites if he'd have to to save Shadow.

Toothless circled over the Island and viewed it from the heights. He let his gaze go over the forests, cliffs and the mountain that was the dominating feature of the island. Somewhere at the Eastern side of the mountain was an entrance to a specific cave, and Toothless was looking for it. The cave had been the nest of two Ruthless Frostbites before, and it was a logical starting point for the search of Shadow.

He descended slowly, looking out for the cave. It had been snowing last time he had flied here, and he didn't really recognize any of the terrain. When he was only about hundred meters above the ground he finally spotted two round shields at the shadowed cliffside.

Toothless flapped his wings against the air to slow down. Then he folded his wings and bounced few times to ease the landing. He exchanged looks with Hiccup; they had returned to the Deathwhisper Island.

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.::Your mercifulnesss::., a Whispering Death announced; _.::we have ssspotted the Night Fury. It landed at the Crysssstal Cave jussst like you predicted.::._

Fireworm looked at nothing in particular, just focused in doing calculations in her head. The Death moved uneasily when she didn't seem to pay any attention to its news. _.::Of course::._, she said suddenly. _.::Toothless::._, she spat out the word like it was something disgusting, _.::is so predictable… this is almost too easy.::._

Finally Fireworm turned her yellow eyes at the messenger. She stared at its orange eyes until it was shaking and then spoke slowly: _.::Make sure Doomgrip understands that I need the young human _alive_. Same applies to the Night Fury… but they don't have to capture it. As what comes to the boy… I have no use for him.:::._ Fireworm watched Shadow gasping in horror when he heard her words, but the little dragon didn't dear to say anything. The Death bowed like a dragon without legs bows, and then took off to deliver the message.

When the messenger has disappeared from sight, Fireworm turned to eye the stage of her revenge. Steep cliff was reaching towards skies in front of her, and at her left and right, too. The grassy clearing in between the rocky walls was about fifty meters wide and U-shaped. Thick forest was covering the fourth side of the "stage".

There were three other dragons there with her: the Frostbite sisters Icescale and Crystalspike, and the little Night Fury, that was guarded by Crystalspike. Now she only had to get a specific human for Icescale to look after, and then the show would be ready to be played. And she would, of course, be the director.

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**Who knows what Fireworm has in mind for poor Toothless? Maybe next week will tell... (yeah it will)**

Until then, reviews are appreciated. -TF


	7. Decision

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**A/N: And here comes my longest chapter so far :)**

Thanks to Victoria62015 for your reviews, I appreciate them a lot.

DISCLAIMER: You know it's hard to try to write this each time differently, so this time you get random marks: ##%!=(/#%#=%¤"%?/. Okay, not funny. Oh well... it's not mine anyways.

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Chapter 6: Decision

They entered the cave without hesitation, and Toothless moved with speed that he had achieved on ground only once before… that was when he saved Hiccup from Fireworm at the kill ring years ago. A familiar darkness swallowed them soon, and Hiccup couldn't see anything. But he trusted that Toothless wouldn't hit anything in the rather narrow tunnel.

"What is this place?" Acorn asked behind him, and Hiccup could hear that he was little frightened.

"This – or rather the cave where this tunnel leads – is the place where Gloomweed grows. But it is also, or was, the nest of Ruthless Frostbites. Ice Dragons." _The place where Toothless lost his other eye. The place where Snotlout died…_

Sooner than Hiccup had expected, they arrived at the large, glacial cave. Expect that this time it was drastically different. Last time it had been mostly white and blue in colors, ice being the dominating feature. Now it was green and brown, and floor was covered in small plants – Gloomweeds.

"This means nothing, bud, they can still live here", Hiccup whispered to Toothless, but didn't belief in his own words. There clearly hadn't been any Frostbites in the cave for years… two years.

Toothless looked around for a while, sniffed from here and there, and then shook his head. Shadow wasn't here, and never had been.

* * *

The light of the midday sun shined from ahead. Hiccup had no idea what they would do next. Toothless walked slowly, dangling his head. The ground changed from rocky cave floor into long grass. They were out of the cave, and thick, downhill forest opened in front of them. Toothless twitched his ears and sniffed in deep.

They couldn't search the whole island. It was just too big, and too dangerous. But he couldn't give up. Because giving up would have meant that – his thought was interrupted when something long, heavy and scaly hit his chest hard, and sent him flying off the saddle, breaking the safety strap in the process. He flied several meters until the hard, rocky cliff roughly stopped him. He collapsed on the ground.

His head hurt, seriously. He tried the back of his head only to find out that his hair was wet and tacky. Afterwards his hand was colored red. _Oh, gods…_ Hiccup raised his head only to see colors blurring and dancing in his vision. Only things he could make out were Toothless growling and beating his wings, some weird, serpent shapes, and Acorn crawling towards him.

"No, Acorn, RUN!" Hiccup shouted before he blacked out.

* * *

A shocking blue fire flashed and erased one attacker from the world. Toothless snarled and engaged another Whispering Death. It tried to bite him, but he easily dodged the attack and slashed its throat open. The dragon collapsed without noise, and deep red stains covered the grass under it.

Toothless didn't have time to congratulate himself; a large Death was wrapping its long tail around unconscious Hiccup, and was apparently going to carry him off. Behind them he saw a glimpse of Acorn disappearing in the woods. Toothless roared and tried to reach Hiccup with one mighty leap, but two Whispering Deaths blocked his way and lashed him in the grass with one hit from their serpent tails.

Toothless bared his teeth and growled menacingly at them, gesturing them to move out of his way, but they stood still. He didn't have time for this; the large Death had now completely tangled Hiccup and was stretching its wings. He let the gas build up in his throat and released the blast on the ground between the two Deaths. The resulting explosion sent them to nearby trees, with nasty burns.

He leaped onwards desperately but it was already too late. The Whispering Death launched itself in the air with Hiccup, and without him Toothless had no chance to follow. _No, I can't lose him too!_

Before Toothless had managed to decide what to do next, he was swarmed by three more Whispering Deaths. But there was no one for Toothless to protect anymore. All that he had cared for had been taken away. He let his aggression to take control.

For a short amount of time, he was a black devil that brought death on his enemies. He slashed with his claws, hit with his tail and bit with his teeth. Soon he had acquired a crimson coloring on them. No dragon could face him and stay alive. Bones broke, wings got ripped off and blood bursted out in front of his fury.

The fight got more intense when more Deaths joined, and jumped on his back. A mess of several dragons tangled together rolled and struggled on the ground. Then it was over. Toothless breathed in deep, although it was hard due to the scaly ropes around him. Only with superior numbers the Whispering Deaths had been able to suppress him. So there he was, lying under a tangled mass that were dragons, limbs in odd positions and too exhausted to try to free himself. At least there were over ten dead or severely wounded Deaths lying around.

Weird thing was that none of the serpent dragons had attempted to harm him, only capture. _Why would they want me alive?_ Answer came sooner than he expected.

A long, leaf-green Whispering Death crept in front of him. Its eyes were orange, like they were on fire. Toothless could see despise in its eyes, but wasn't sure if it was aimed towards him. They stared each other, two flaming diamonds looking at an emerald orb. Finally the Death spoke: _.::Lisssten my wordsss carefully, Night Fury. We have your human and your ssson. -::._

Hope and fear filled Toothless, but outside he showed just anger. _.::What? You have Shadow? Why are you doing this, what you want from me!::._, he growled. The Whispering Death looked around slowly like it was bored. _.::Answer to me!::._, Toothless shouted.

It nailed Toothless again with its fiery eyes. _.::You'll get your anssswersss sssoon enough. Now if you'd calm down, I could let my warriorsss to releassse you::._, it hissed.

Toothless looked at the leaf-green dragon with disbelief, but then forced his body to relax, although it was hard. When he was totally relaxed, the Deaths let their grip loosen, and he was free again. _.::Say one good reason::._, Toothless threatened and took a menacing pose, _.::why I wouldn't kill you right away.::._

The Deaths around him turned to look at their leader, which the leaf-green dragon apparently was. It didn't look like the words had any effect on the long dragon. .::_Sssure, go ahead and kill me, I won't ssstop you. But if you do ssso, you'll unfortunately never sssee your ssson or human again.::._ It said the words without any mockery in its voice; it just dropped them like a cold fact.

Toothless stared the Whispering Death for a moment through a narrowed eye. Then he let his gaze go down. This was what he had feared. They had total control over him now, and he had no other option than play by their rules. For now, he assured to himself.

_.::Good, now I ssshall asssk you to follow me. Our Leader wantsss to sssee you.::._ The Death gestured Toothless to follow it, then it turned around and began to creep away.

Toothless walked after the dragon, and other Whispering Deaths formed an escort around him. _No matter what their so-called leader wants from me, if it has hurt Hiccup or Shadow I'll make it regret it ever decided to leave its egg._

The Deaths could move surprisingly fast, but it still took a good while until they reached their destination, which was a grassy area next to curvy cliff.

On the grass were several creatures waiting for them. Two of them were Ruthless Frostbites. They were not yet fully grown, but still larger than Zipplebacks, and judging by their coloring they both were females. They stood on the opposite sides of the clearing, and both held something  
in their claws. The left one was pinning down Shadow so he couldn't open his mouth, and the right one was guarding still unconscious Hiccup. But what really made Toothless' heart to stop was the dragon that stood between the Frostbites. A fire-red Monstrous Nightmare with black stripes all over its body. .::_Fireworm::._, Toothless gasped.

Fireworm formed a devious smile on her face. _.::Long time no see, Toothless.::._

Toothless couldn't answer, in fact he couldn't do anything; he was too shocked for that. Of course he had known that he would have to face Fireworm once, but now when it really happened he didn't know what to do.

_.::Surprised, are you? You couldn't really think that I'd forget… or forgive.::._ The Whispering Deaths surrounding Toothless whispered with each other. Fireworm turned her attention to them, irritated of the disruption. _.::Get out of my sight, all of you!::._, she roared and all of the giant serpents hurried to flee, all but one. _.::Doomgrip, the command applies to you too!::._

The leaf-green Death hesitated for a moment before it spoke: _.::Your mercifulnesss. We have been loyal to you; we have filled all of your commandsss without delay. You ssshould let usss sssee where thisss all leadsss.::._

Fireworm looked like she was going to explode, but then she suddenly calmed down. _.::Of course. You can stay::._, she said softly.

Doomgrip took a position few meters left of Toothless and observed the situation from there.

Fireworm turned her yellow eyes back to Toothless. _.::Now where were we… oh yes. It is time, Toothless. Time for you to get what you deserve from your little betrayal.::._

_.::I didn't - ::._, Toothless started, but then he realized that it was useless. Besides it was no use to try to delay the inevitable.

_.::I'm not cruel. You didn't harm me physically, so I won't do that either::._, she purred with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. _.::Besides, I could have all your limbs ripped off, and you still wouldn't have an idea of the pain that I feel. No, I want you to know what you made me to go through, how I have suffered for two years!::._ Fireworm shrieked the last few words like mad.

Toothless gulped. He had an idea of what Fireworm meant with her words. He could never allow that to happen, although he didn't know how to prevent it, either. _.::This is between you and me, Fireworm. Shadow and Hiccup has no part in this, let them go!::._, he begged.

The Nightmare laughed at him. .::_I was just coming to that. Yes, I will let you go with other of them. However, the other has to go – in a bit different manner. You can decide.::._ She smiled maliciously.

_.::No, you can't mean it… you can't do this…::. _Toothless took a step forward, lowered his head and growled. _.::You're a monster!::._ He let the explosive gas to rise up his throat.

_.::Do it, and they both die::._, Fireworm said in a freezing tone. Toothless stared her, hoping his gaze would kill, and hated himself for his own helplessness. He let the gas to dissipate without lighting it.

_.::Now listen, and listen carefully. This is the deal: Other dies, and other lives happily with you. It's your call which is which. Don't waste time in your decision, though, my children are hungry::._, she gestured towards the Frostbites; _.::and they are running out of patience. From this moment onwards, do one wrong move, say one wrong word, and they both will get eaten::._, she purred and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the situation.

Toothless felt all dizzy, the reality hit him hard and his brains refused to work. How could he ever choose, how could he ever pick one over other!

Hiccup was a human that he loved more than anything. He was his soulmate and best friend. It was Hiccup who had given him back his ability to fly, who brought him delicious fish, who scratched him behind his ears and from the special spot under his chin that made him feel so good. It was Hiccup who soared with him to the skies, who fought with him and who healed his wounds after a battle. No, he could never let him die; it would have been easier to rip off his soul than let the Viking die.

On other note, Shadow was a dragon that he loved more than anything. He was his son and Toothless was very proud of him. It was Shadow who made his day with just one smile, who asked sometimes silly questions from him, and who thought that he was the mightiest dragon in the world. If he'd let Shadow die he could as well cut his heart out.

How he could ever choose? How? _How…?_

_.::My children are starving; I can't deny a good meal from them any longer. If you don't want either of them, it's not my fault. Say goodbye to your son and human::._, Fireworm announced.

_.::NO! Take me instead, just let them go!::._, Toothless shouted desperately.

Fireworm's jaws curved in a devilish, victorious smile. _.::Wrong answer::._, she said with a blood-chilling voice.

Something heavy landed next to Toothless and struck him down in the dirt.

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**It's really hard for me to not end chapters like this, hope you don't mind it too much :P**

I'm not sure if I'll be home next weekend, but if I'm not, then the next chapter will come after two weeks.

Oh, and don't worry, I'm nowhere near finishing this story yet.

**And before I forget, I'd appreciate a bit more reviews, so keep clicking the blue link at the bottom of this page. -TF**


	8. Storm

**A/N: I'm really sorry for the lack of updates over the last month, I have been lazy recently... and this was not an easy chapter, which didn't help things. But, now it's here, and I hope you enjoy it :)**

Thanks for the reviews, I'll try to improve the details as suggested. I'm also aware of the overall darkness of the story, but it should get a bit lighter in a chapter or two.

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, it's not.**

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**Chapter 7: Storm**

Doomgrip hissed quietly when the beast known as Chillbreath landed heavily behind the Night Fury and pounded it down with its tail, but in a way that the tail's massive spikes didn't harm it. Proving surprising agility, the ice-dragon jumped immediately onwards and pushed the Fury's head down under its clawed leg so it couldn't open its mouth. The cold blue eyes turned to look the fire-red dragon, asking for instructions.

This was going too far. All Whispering Deaths would be ashamed forever if he'd let this to continue. He could try to challenge the Leader, but Doomgrip was sure that she wouldn't respect the traditions and would just simply order the ice beasts to kill him. Committing such an act would make other Deaths to turn against her for sure, but the problem was that he was the only Death around here. No one would be seeing. So it seemed like his choices were eternal shame or death, and he had to decide fast.

Just when Doomgrip had made the decision to interrupt the scene, some movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He was greatly surprised by the sight of the boy that was accompanied with the young Night Fury sneaking out of the forest behind Chillbreath, holding a stick with a knife attached on its end in his hand. Doomgrip was careful not to show outside that he had noticed something unusual. This was giving a whole new chance for him. The boy was now really close to the Frostbite that was guarding the small black dragon. The dragonling noticed the boy just when he was about to throw the knife-tipped stick. Doomgrip held his breath in excitement.

The snow-white-faint-bluish dragon screamed, in surprise and pain, but mostly in surprise, when the sharp knife pierced trough its soft scales just under the right wing. It shifted its weight on its left leg when it twisted its body to pull out the source of the sudden stinging pain. This small relief of pressure on the little Night Fury's head was enough to allow it to open its mouth – and to burst out a bright blue ball of fire.

It was rather small blast compared to what a fully-grown Fury could do, but still powerful enough to send Chillbreath staggering backwards and scorch few white scales when it exploded on its cheek.

Now the scarred Night Fury was free, and it stroke against the other female Frostbite, Icescale, extremely quickly. Icescale didn't even have time to think about defending itself when the Fury was already inflicting some serious damage on it with its sharp claws. Icescale screeched when the two battling dragons fell on the ground in one struggling mass.

_.::NO! Kill them all, now!::._, Flamesoul yelled with widened eyes. She didn't take it easy seeing her plans getting unexpected turns.

But, it looked like the Frostbites were unable to follow the command. Icescale was having a fight for her life, Chillbreath was shaking his head and sneezing and generally confused of the sudden twist in the plot, and Crystalspike, well, she had just got a mouthful of blue fire and couldn't be bothered by anything else at the moment. Doomgrip himself didn't make anything to indicate that he had even heard the Nightmare saying anything.

_.::Idiots! Why I trusted in your abilities at all!::._ The Nightmare was sounding mad now. She growled and leaped towards the human that was lying on the grass, going for the kill. While in mid-air the direction of her leap changed and she tumbled on her back, in the same spot where she had leaped. _.::What - ?::._ She got on her feet agilely like a cat and narrowed her eyes in hatred when she recognized the reason for this backfall. _.::Get. Out. Of. My. Way::._ The words were dripping of wrath.

_.::No.::._ Doomgrip lowered his voice as he spread his wings to block the way past him. _.::I have had enough. You are not suitable for your position as the Leader of the Deaths. That is why I, Doomgrip, am forced to challenge you in a fight for your title. Refusing is not an option, as you should know.::._

The Nightmare looked like she was going to explode.

Behind Doomgrip the adult Night Fury rose up from the ground where it had fought Icescale. The other dragon didn't move. _.::Shadow, take Acorn and go! I'll follow soon!::. _it shouted to its son, who was still blasting flame against Crystalspike.

_.::You're so dead now!::._ Flamesoul snarled and crouched. Doomgrip knew what was coming. The air warmed suddenly when the Nightmare set herself on fire and leaped towards the Whispering Death, jaws wide open. Doomgrip dodged the attack by rising in air with few strong wingbeats, then he half-turned around and spat out a fiery ring towards his opponent. However, the flames had no effect on the already burning Flamesoul, who took off after him. Doomgrip flapped his wings in fast pace – it was extremely important in aerial fight to stay above the enemy. He hissed in pain when something pierced his tail and violently stopped his ascend.

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Chillbreath charged forward. The cursed Night Fury was just ahead, trying to figure out how to carry its human to safety. Behind it was a large figure lying lifelessly on ground. There were deep cuts and wounds around the body. Icescale was dead. Dead! Chillbreath roared his anger out loud and breathed some mist on his face. The Fury noticed him only just before he was about to hit against it head-on.

The impact made the black dragon fly side-first good five meters away. However, it managed to land on its feet and turned immediately to face Chillbreath. The human was now lying at Chillbreath's feet, and he smirked maliciously before breathing a good-sized cloud of freezing mist at the human. The Night Fury's counter-attack was so fast that Chillbreath could only see a black flash coming towards him before everything went black. A loud thump shook the ground when the Frostbite fell on its back.

Toothless let out an exhausted sigh and looked around. He was now alone with Hiccup. Shadow had followed his advices and fled, and the third Frostbite was probably after him. Two Frostbites were lying around, and Fireworm has flied off fighting with the Whispering Death, although Toothless didn't fully understand the reason for that. Never mind, it was better that the Nightmare wasn't around now. He turned to nudge Hiccup with his nose and confirmed that the Viking was still alright, just unconscious.

He closed his only eye and tried to calm down. He felt how the small wounds around his body were sending painful pulses, how his limbs were sore of all the recent fighting, but most importantly, he felt cold. His chest, front legs, chin and left side were all freezing. Literally. He had had to jump through the ice-breath to save Hiccup. Toothless snorted and tried to keep the dizziness away, at least he could still walk.

As Fireworm could return at any minute and he was not in a fighting condition, it was time to disappear. No time for melting the ice, he'd just have to ignore the numbness that was spreading from the frozen scales. Toothless lowered his right wing and planted it under Hiccup. After that he slid him on his back and folded both wings. Hiccup wouldn't fall if he'd move carefully. Now was time to go after Shadow.

* * *

Doomgrip licked some blood that was dripping down his cheek. Then he spat out few teeth and prepared to take on the Nightmare once more. His tail had shortened a good meter and his wings were torn in many places, but fortunately the Nightmare wasn't looking any better, and he had even managed to poison her.

After an intense aerial fight they had landed at the rocky Southern shoreline when neither of them had energy left to fly. Now the waves that stroke against the cliff formed the only sounds besides their exhausted breathing. They were standing a few dragon lengths away from each other, glaring with fiery expressions on their faces. Only one could win.

Doomgrip winced when some salty water splattered on his wounds. He had left a red trail behind him, and although Flamesoul was weakening from his poison, he was still getting weaker faster because of his cut tail. Waiting was not giving him any advantage, so he hissed ferociously and darted forward.

The Monstrous Nightmare tried to stop him with a bright burst of flames, but Doomgrip didn't care and went straight trough the fire, aiming to the red dragon's head. He _almost_ succeeded in his attack, only problem was that the Nightmare's jaws were open, and thus he only bit the lower jaw instead of whole head. Flamesoul shut her jaws firmly immediately, and now they were stuck in each other with neither willing to let go.

Doomgrip had a nice view of Nightmare's mouth from the inside, but he couldn't enjoy it for long as the blood pouring down from the top of his head blurred the view. He tasted both his and her blood as the Nightmare's teeth drilled deeper in his palate at the same time as he bit harder.

Flamesoul shook her head from side to side and Doomgrip suddenly realized that he was at serious disadvantage. She began to push him backwards to the ocean and he couldn't get a hold from the ground to resist the movement. Doomgrip wriggled his whole body and tried to stop her, but step by step the two dragons were nearing the fall to the water.

Too soon Doomgrip felt the ground disappearing under him, and he was just hanging there thanks to their dual-bite. He'd have to swing his body and grab the Nightmare with his tail. With one failed attempt he knew that he was too weak. He saw a bright glow coming from Flamesoul's throat. He had failed, but maybe, maybe the others would use the Nightmare's weakness to get rid of her and the foul beasts. Forever. That was his only wish when the cold ocean welcomed his charred figure to its depths.

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**Yeah, I don't dear to promise anything anymore, but the next chapter _should_ appear at next weekend.**

Reviews are appreciated as always ;)


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